Resumen

MOSQUERA, Janeth; GOMEZ, Olga Lucía  y  MENDEZ, Fabián. Use of research results in public health in the Valle del Cauca Secretariat of Health, Colombia. Colomb Med [online]. 2005, vol.36, n.1, pp.16-22. ISSN 1657-9534.

BACKGROUND: Research is an essential function of public health. Great amounts of resources are spent in health research that should contribute to improve people’s health. However, impact or social gains of health research have been insufficiently measured. OBJECTIVES: To explore perceptions of policy-makers and researchers about research use in public health and to identify barriers and facilitators for using research results at a Departmental Secretariat of Health, in Colombia. METHODS: We carried out a case-study about perceptions of use of research results in the Valle del Cauca Secretariat of Health using a semi-structured interview with 17 health policy makers and researchers. Researchers in health research institutions and health officials in the Secretariat of Health were selected by purposing sample. We identified preliminary and emergent categories; relations between them and suggested explanations of the issues under study were established. MAIN RESULTS: Policy makers to guide decisions in public health at the Departmental Secretariat of Health do not use research results. Barriers for using research results are associated with the lack of a research policy, deficiencies in research management structure and exclusive contractual relationships established between researchers and policy-makers. There are few experiences in using research results and they were facilitated by a better knowledge of health officials about research process, a participative role of them in research, and by characteristics of research development. CONCLUSIONS: Research results do not contribute to make decisions at the Secretariat of Health.

Palabras clave : Health research; Public policy; Knowledge management.

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